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MIDLAND DISTRICT OFFICE |
Martins
Bank moves into the City of Birmingham in 1935, and opens
up for business at 98 Colmore Row on 1st March. The Bank then sets about
opening the many and varied branches that will form a Midland District
of the Bank. Work on he new district begins
in 1950 and in 1952 this advertisement announces that a Board of Local
Directors has been appointed. |
Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections |
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Until now
this imposing building on Colmore Row has served only as “Birmingham Branch”,
but once the Midland District of the Bank is formally created with the
appointment of Mr J A Naisbitt as District General Manager, the paraphernalia
of District Office departments begins to fill its rooms. Distict Offices really don’t come much more
imposing than these magnificent premises, the overall look of the building,
not least the number of floors – seven at least – reminds us very much of the
Bank’s Head Office Building in Liverpool.
The Midland District is indeed widespread - reaching East into
Lincolnshire, and as far south as Banbury in Oxfordshire. Some boundary changes do occur before the
merger with Barclays, whose structure of “Local Head Offices” allows them to
cherry pick the best of Martins’ District Offices, using some of them in
place of its own premises, and closing the rest. Local recruitment… This
advertisement is from a 1961 recruitment camapign. It has been designed to
appeal to young ladies who would like a career in banking. It comes in two versions, one for London
and the South of England, and one for the Midlands. The ad does its best to disguise the fact
that back-office clerical work at this time is extremely boring and
repetitive, but as we have seen elsewhere in the Online Archive, the sense of
family and the availablility of a wide range of social activities, coupled
with work in a clean an dry environment goes a long way to making up for work
itself! Note the generic wording at the end of the ad, inviting applications to
Midland District Office. Remember also, that at this time newspapers and
magazines are the only way of advertising for people to join the staff of the
Bank. We do not know if the young lady actually does work for Martins –
perhaps she has been provided by an agency. The Midland District experiences
“a little local difficulty” when the Bank chooses to use images of models
instead of staff at the opening of LEICESTER DRIVE-IN BRANCH, and the staff were NOT impressed!
Image © Barclays Ref: 0025-0251 Dinner with the family…
Images © Martins Bank Archive
Collections |
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The family atmosphere
engendered by Martins Bank is never more apparent that at the many district
dinners organised for the staff over the years. We are pleased to have these three examples
(above) of menu cards that are issued to those attending these events. They
serve as an invitation to the Staff Dinners that are taking place on 18
November 1950, 25 February 1961, 27
February 1965, 24 February 1968 and 22 February 1969, when for some reason,
the front cover is used to show the new 5 pence piece which began circulating
alongside its pre-decimal counterpart the Shilling, in 1968. DECIMALISATION of the
UK’s Currency will be completed in 1971.
This photograph shows the sheer number of staff attending the first of
these extremely popular annual get-togethers.
In our Staff Gallery Below, the staff job titles are quoted as they
appear in Martins Bank Magazine.
Sometimes a staff member will appear more than once depending on the
number of appointments they held. As
even Martins Bank Magazine is known to have made one or two small errors now
and again, if you see any details that you know to be wrong, please contact
us with the reason, as this will help us to tell the story as acurately as we
can. End dates for a person’s role are
given where known. The word “onwards”
indicates a role held until at least the date of the merger with Barclays… |
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